Exploring Life and Death at the Cellular Level: An Examination of How Our Cells Can Live Without Us

During the academic year (2012–2013) students and faculty in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences focused on the annual theme of “Life and Death.” To this end, we have been focusing all aspects of academic growth around this theme. It has guided our coursework, study groups, invited lecture series, Faculty Lecture Series, and even our Commencement speaker’s address (Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, 2013). In this paper the idea of life and death will be examined from a cellular and molecular level, and the idea of what happens to our biological pieces (cells, proteins, tissues, etc.) once they are separated from our bodies will be explored. This idea has become increasingly more intriguing as humanity has discovered ways of keeping these biological parts viable and useful while outside of the original body from which they were derived (Lodish et al., 2012). When thinking about how to approach the annual theme from a biological point of view, I began asking students and community members, “Do you really think that a person’s cells can live outside the body?” Most had not given the idea much thought and were astonished to learn that the answer was a resounding, “Yes!” Although it is not that likely, even your own cells could be living in a culture dish somewhere right now without your knowledge! (Eiseman and Haga, 1999). This paper explores the history of cell culture, including cell strains and lines, their purpose in basic research and medical advances, and some of the legal and ethical underpinnings surrounding their development and use

Exploring Identity Through Genetic and Genealogical Research: Development of a Collaborative Course Between Humanities and Biology

In this paper, data from student projects completed in their HONR 1000N: Genetics and Genealogy course, taught during winter 2010, are presented. Students traced their deep ancestry through mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA analysis, as well as more recent ancestry, using genealogical databases and family histories. Frequently, students were challenged or pleasantly surprised by the information they gleaned. Genetic and genealogical research can provide clues to one’s identity and ethnic background, as well as potential medical conditions